HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-23-24 Agenda Packet Chair:
Aisha Elmquist (2024)
Secretary:
Renee Marino (2024)
Board Members:
Joel Gerich (2024)
Susan Johnson (2025)
Gary Gerding (2025)
Linda Hansohn (2026)
Kent Stennes (2026)
Staff Liaison:
David Swearingen
Karth Lake Improvement
District Board
REGULAR MEETING
Tuesday
January 23, 2024
1245 W. Highway 96
Arden Hills, MN 55112
651.792.7800
www.cityofardenhills.org
Agenda
Board Meeting Convenes at 6:30 PM
The public may access this meeting remotely by joining via Zoom.
To join the Zoom Meeting, click this link (or copy and paste it into a new browser):
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86215076782
CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL
1. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES of the previous meeting September 26, 2023
3. PUBLIC INQUIRIES
4. OLD BUSINESS
4.1. Lakeshore owner outreach and education. Susan Johnson and Joel Gerich.
4.1.1 Background: The KLIDB has reached out to KLID members in the past with flyers, events and door-knocking to
increase awareness of what the KLIDB does, provide information to assist members in managing their shoreline and to
recruit new board members. Several lakeshore properties have or are soon expected to have new owners that have not
benefited from past communications and an update on the lake’s current status to continuing owners would be helpful.
Action: Report on flyer sent to KLID members in the fall of 2023. Plan for a Love Your Lake party hosted by Susan
Johnson in the first quarter of 2024. Discuss other possible communications ideas for 2024.
4.2. Karth Lake water level modeling and management process progress report. Renée Marino
4.2.1 Background: Hypothesis: a revision to the pump management policy can reduce water level bounce (i.e., range of
high and low levels), which can improve lake quality and its environment while appropriately mitigating risk of damage to
shoreline properties.
Action: Provide updates. See attachments.
4.3. Bylaws review and possible modification. Susan Johnson
4.3.1 Background: A preliminary review of the bylaws questions who is a member of KLID, how elections should be run
going forward and who can vote.
Action: Provide updates, if any.
4.4. Open meeting laws update. Susan Johnson
4.4.1 Background: Susan reached out to David Perrault for guidance on process for involving board between meetings for
urgent issues that arise between meetings.
Action: Provide updates, if any.
5. NEW BUSINESS
5.1 Plan process for next election of KLID Board Members and Officers whose terms have expired. Board
5.1.1 Background: Three board member terms end in 2024: Aisha Elmquist, Renée Marino and Joel Gerich. As with past
years, the City of Arden Hills will mail a letter to all KLID members announcing the election and asking for volunteers to
be candidates for open positions.
Action: Edit last year’s letter (attached) as a group and decide on other aspects of the 2024 election process.
Karth Lake Improvement District Board
January 23, 2024 Page 2
6. NEXT MEETING
7. ADJOURN
Draft Minutes for Karth Lake Improvement District Board
Regular Meeting 6:30 PM, Tuesday, September 26, 2023
CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL
The meeting convened at: 6:30 PM.
Present:
Board Members: Aisha Elmquist, Chair; Renée Marino, Secretary; Gary
Gerding; Linda Hansohn; Susan Johnson; Kent Stennes
Staff Liaison: David Swearingen, Public Works Director
Visitors and Karth Lake Improvement District members: Jim Elliott Jr.; Joel
Gerich
1. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: The agenda was approved as written.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the previous meeting on July 11, 2023
were approved as written.
3. PUBLIC INQUIRIES: None.
4. OLD BUSINESS
4.1. Process to fill Board Seat from Kathy Johnson’s resignation. Board
4.1.1 Background: The term of this seat is until elections in April 2024. The
board may appoint a candidate to fill that seat until then.
Discussion: Per Susan Johnson, the process to fill this seat is for anyone
interested to come forward and for the board members present to vote on approval
of the appointment. The website had been updated the week before to encourage
prospective candidates to attend this meeting. Joel Gerich indicated his interest in
being appointed to this seat. The attendees introduced each other. The board
proceeded to approve the appointment of Joel Gerich to the vacant seat.
4.2. Karth Lake water level modeling and management process progress report.
Renée Marino
4.2.1 Background: Hypothesis: a revision to the pump management policy can
reduce water level bounce (i.e., range of high and low levels), which can improve
lake quality and its environment while appropriately mitigating risk of damage to
shoreline properties.
Discussion: Renee has continued to work with the model trying to validate it
against actual rain and lake level data from the prior two years. The rain data
sources are a challenge. Linda offered to download rain data from her personal
gauge that is part of a network of citizen gauges connected to the internet.
David suggested that we review the newly-released Rice Creek Watershed flood
resiliency study performed by Houston Engineering. The Houston Engineering
Karth Lake model Renee is working with draws from that work. There was some
discussion of the city’s 2026 PNP Karth Lake area street improvement planning
process. It might be eligible for grant funding opportunities that draw on the
RCWD/Houston Engineering flood resiliency program. Public engagement will
be a part of that PNP planning process in around February and March of 2025.
4.3. Plan for 2023 removal of excess lake weeds and debris. Susan Johnson
4.3.1 Background: Holtz scheduled another lake weed removal day in August
2023 for lake property owners interested in participating. This is classified as a
voluntary effort and not an official board action. However, the board is aware of
and supportive of this effort.
Discussion: Holtz had sold its operations to J. Dressell, which retained many of
Holtz’ employees. J. Dressell did the Karth Lake weed removal work in August
2023. They spent 78 hours on the lake and removed 2.5 trailers full of weeds. It
was more expensive than in previous years, for a total cost of $6,345. The 21
homeowners (nearly half of all lake property owners) that opted to have their
weeds removed donated a combined $5,600. The difference was covered by the
excess of prior years’ contributions still maintained by the Arden Hills
Foundation. This effort is, again, not an official board activity, but impacts Karth
Lake’s health so is reported here. This weed removal is performed in compliance
with DNR specifications and only allows removal of weeds close to the shore.
4.4. Plan for 2023 control of invasive purple loosestrife. Kent Stennes, Renée
Marino, Susan Johnson
4.4.1 Background: After the Purple Loosestrife infestation event in 2022, the
KLID Purple Loosestrife Task Force agreed to survey for new plants and notify
the City of Arden Hills, as well as notify homeowners and offer to assist in plant
removal. Such monitoring may be necessary for several years until of if it appears
to have been eradicated.
Discussion: Kent and Renee and Jim removed 100% of plants identified. Shared
map showing location of 2023 plants identified in comparison with 2022 plants.
Although there were a large number of new plants (23), it is encouraging to see
that areas were plants were removed in 2022 had little to no regrowth in 2023.
4.5. Lakeshore owner outreach and education. Susan Johnson and Board
4.5.1 Background: The KLIDB has reached out to KLID members in the past
with flyers, events and door-knocking to increase awareness of what the KLIDB
does, provide information to assist members in managing their shoreline and to
recruit new board members. Several lakeshore properties have or are soon
expected to have new owners that have not benefited from past communications
and an update on the lake’s current status to continuing owners would be helpful.
Discussion: Susan reiterated her offer to host a Love Your Lake party, possibly in
the first quarter of 2024. She also offered to prepare and send a flyer to Karth
Lake home owners with tips on ways they could to help protect the lake and
reduce fish kill such as, for example, by not sweeping leaves into the lake. Joel
Gerich offered to help Susan prepare and send a flyer. Renee offered to pull a
current mailing list for mailing labels.
4.6. Bylaws review and possible modification. Susan Johnson
4.6.1 Background: A preliminary review of the bylaws questions who is a
member of KLID, how elections should be run going forward and who can vote.
Discussion: Susan concluded that there is no requirement for ballots to be sent in
the mail ahead of the annual meeting. Voting should be done in writing, though,
either in person at the annual meeting or by absentee votes delivered to the City of
Arden Hills ahead of the meeting. Susan noted an ambiguity regarding who a
qualified voter is and who is a member of the Karth Lake Improvement District.
Susan plans to follow up with Arden Hills’ counsel for further clarification and
possibly for an amendment to the bylaws.
4.7. Open meeting laws update. Susan Johnson.
4.7.1 Background: Susan reached out to David Perrault for guidance on process
for involving board between meetings for urgent issues that arise between
meetings.
Discussion: Susan has not yet heard back from David Perrault so has nothing to
report on this yet. David Swearingen said the PTRC committee encountered a
recent urgent issue for which their solution was to call a special meeting. Aisha’s
current work involves open meeting law issues and indicates one-on-one emails
are fine, but group emails can cross the line. An option to calling a special
meeting is to create authorization for a smaller number of people from the board
who can email each other and make decisions on behalf of the board between
board meetings. In our last meeting, this board authorized a Purple Loosestrife
Strike Force to respond to related urgent issues between meetings. Joel has had
similar experiences involving open meeting laws where sub-teams were
authorized to work between meetings. Susan will follow up to see if David
Perrault has further guidance for this board.
5. NEW BUSINESS
5.1 None.
6. NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, January 23, 2024 at 6:30 PM at City Hall.
7. ADJOURN
February 7, 2023
To Karth Lake shoreline property owners:
It’s �me again for Karth Lake Improvement District Board Elec�ons!
Mark your calendars to atend the annual board mee�ng at Arden Hills City Hall
at 6:30 pm, Tuesday April 11, 2023.
To join the mee�ng via Zoom, please type this link into your browser:
htps://us02web.zoom.us/j/82083667252
Interested in ge�ng involved in improving the health and enjoyment of Karth
Lake? You could “plunge in” by pu�ng your name in for one of the two open
board posi�ons to be elected this April, or “get your toes wet” by helping to
collect water samples, measure lake levels, remove invasive plants on and near
the shoreline, care for the rain and memorial gardens and come to show your
support by atending a board mee�ng or shoreline neighbor get together.
For those new to the area, the Karth Lake
Improvement District (KLID) was established by
the City of Arden Hills in 2003 as an opportunity
for lake property owners to advise the City on
issues related to management of Karth Lake.
During the past two decades, the KLID has
worked with the City in conjunc�on with the Rice
Creek Watershed District and the Department of
Natural Resources to address a wide range of
issues involving the health and enjoyment of the
lake. Those efforts have resulted in DNR lake
quality score improvements from C’s and D’s in
2007, when they were first measured, to A’s and
B’s today.
If you are interested in joining the board, please no�fy David Swearingen, City of
Arden Hills Public Works Director, by sending an email to
dswearingen@cityofardenhills.org.
If you are interested in becoming involved in other ways or have ques�ons about
board service, please contact the KLID Board Secretary, Renée Marino at
renee@cupitorconsul�ng.com or at 612-227-8508.
Please also explore informa�on at www.cityofardenhills.org/132/Karth-Lake -
Improvement-District. Watch for for news about upcoming events this year!
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0.00.51.01.52.02.53.0 932.0 932.5 933.0 933.5 934.0 934.5 935.05/6/20225/20/20226/3/20226/17/20227/1/20227/15/20227/29/20228/12/20228/26/20229/9/20229/23/202210/7/202210/21/202211/4/202211/18/202212/2/202212/16/202212/30/20221/13/20231/27/20232/10/20232/24/20233/10/20233/24/20234/7/20234/21/20235/5/20235/19/20236/2/20236/16/20236/30/20237/14/20237/28/20238/11/20238/25/20239/8/20239/22/202310/6/202310/20/202311/3/202311/17/2023Karth Lake Elevation (feet above sea level)DNR Gauge Beginning 5/6/2022; Second series is preliminary use of hydrology modelWeekly Rain (right axis, feet)Lake Level Actual (Left Axis, Elevation Feet)Hydrology Model Predicted Level Reset Every MonthMay Jun Jul Aug Sep
0.00.51.01.52.02.53.0 932.0 932.5 933.0 933.5 934.0 934.5 935.05/6/20225/20/20226/3/20226/17/20227/1/20227/15/20227/29/20228/12/20228/26/20229/9/20229/23/202210/7/202210/21/202211/4/202211/18/202212/2/202212/16/202212/30/20221/13/20231/27/20232/10/20232/24/20233/10/20233/24/20234/7/20234/21/20235/5/20235/19/20236/2/20236/16/20236/30/20237/14/20237/28/20238/11/20238/25/20239/8/20239/22/202310/6/202310/20/202311/3/202311/17/2023Karth Lake Elevation (feet above sea level)DNR Gauge Beginning 5/6/2022; Second series is preliminary use of hydrology modelLake Level Actual (Left Axis, Elevation Feet)Hydrology Model Predicted Level Reset Every Month2023 Weekly Rain (right axis, feet)2002 Weekly Rain (right axis, feet)May Jun Jul Aug Sep
‐ 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.04/11/20234/18/20234/25/20235/2/20235/9/20235/16/20235/23/20235/30/20236/6/20236/13/20236/20/20236/27/20237/4/20237/11/20237/18/20237/25/20238/1/20238/8/20238/15/20238/22/20238/29/20239/5/20239/12/20239/19/20239/26/202310/3/20232023 Cumulative Rainfall Compared to 2002 (Feet)20232022